Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Politician season 1.
Netflix's The Politician ended in a completely different place from where it started. In the final episode, the show jumped ahead three years and gave Ben Platt's character Payton Hobart a new campaign to work on — his New York state senate bid. The finale perfectly sets up The Politician season 2, which will follow Payton's battle against DeDe Standish for New York state senator.
There was never any doubt that the show would return for more episodes. Deadline reported that when Netflix initially bought the series, the streaming giant did so with a two-season order. Deadline added that many of the major streaming networks wanted the political comedy (co-created by Ryan Murphy), with Hulu and Amazon also bidding for it. Ultimately Netflix won and will stream at least one more season of the show. But, Murphy and co. have an even grander plan beyond just two seasons. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the creators want to tell Payton's story in a possible five-season arc. Each new season would cover a new political race that Payton is in, all the way up to the presidency. After his state senate race in season 2, seasons 3 and 4 could be congress and US senate races, ending with his presidential race in season 5.
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Season 2 begins production in October, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Tribe Tribune reported that season 1 filmed in the early fall of 2018, so we're probably looking at a similar filming and post-production schedule for season 2. That would mean the next season would likely air sometime around September of 2020.
Many of the core characters are likely to return for the second season because they're now on Payton's state senate campaign team. Those characters include McAfee (Laura Dreyfuss), James (Theo Germaine), Alice (Julia Schlaepfer), Astrid (Lucy Boynton), and Skye (Rahne Jones). Other characters may not make the season 2 roster because the show now takes place in New York instead of California. That could mean that Dusty Jackson's (Jessica Lange) and Georgina Hobart's (Gwyneth Paltrow) storylines have run their course. One can only hope that the writers can figure out a way to get Infinity Jackson (Zoey Deutch) back to New York for season 2, because she's just a delight to watch. She wasn't on Payton's official campaign team at the end of the finale, but she did spend some time with him in New York in the finale. If they're still friends in season 2, she may be back for part of the show at least.
This new campaign will be different for Payton, not just because of the heightened stakes, but because he has new people on his side now. Last election, he was battling against Skye and Astrid. Now they're on his team. Payton also has what he believes is a deal-sealer for his campaign, which is that he knows DeDe is in a thrupple — aka in a relationship with two other men who are also in a relationship with each other.
But Payton should be careful about trotting that information out, lest he forget that he once had a romantic relationship with Astrid and her boyfriend River (David Corenswet), and those kinds of things always have a way of getting out in tense elections. (Also, who cares what any of them choose to do in their consensual romantic lives?)
Payton's got his work cut out for him to try to take down an incumbent state senator, but he's determined — and a determined Payton is a force to be reckoned with.